


Family Matters

by sevenfists



Series: Sid/Geno Tumblr ficlets [18]
Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Confessions, Established Relationship, Multi, Polyamory
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-18
Updated: 2018-11-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 15:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16663312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sevenfists/pseuds/sevenfists
Summary: Nikita fell asleep in the car on the way home, which was the least surprising event of the day. Sid waited until he exited off the freeway, and then he said, “I think Tanger knows something’s up.”Anna turned to look at him, nestled in the turned-up collar of her coat. “Up?”“Like, he thinks something’s going on,” Sid said. “He was looking at us in the locker room tonight.”





	Family Matters

**Author's Note:**

> Written for a prompt: "OT3 and trying to explain it to the team. Or accidentally being caught and someone thinking Anna is cheating on Geno with Sid." Thanks to honeycombhenry for telling me what to title this. Set around the 11/15/2018 TBL game.

He probably could have played. His neck wasn’t that bad, just kind of stiff and uncomfortable when he turned his head to the right. But he was trying to be more cautious about minor injuries as he got older, because he’d seen how minor stuff could become major stuff if it wasn’t taken seriously. And Sully and the trainers agreed with him, and told him to sit out until it was better, and he ruthlessly crushed the part of himself that said he was slacking off. Playing through injuries in November was stupid. It wasn’t the playoffs. He could take a week.

“Let’s go to the game tomorrow,” Anna said, when Sid told her the night before that he wouldn’t be playing. She was wearing her bathrobe and one of those horrifying face masks with holes cut out for the eyes and mouth, and it wrinkled around her lips as she spoke. “We take Nikita. It’s fun.”

“Oh, well,” Sid said, already thinking fast about how to make this work, because it would probably seem weird for him to show up at a game with Geno’s wife. “We could sit in my box, I guess. I don’t think it’s donated out for this game.”

“Okay, good,” Anna said, apparently satisfied with this half-baked plan, and went back into the washroom to finish whatever it was she did to her face every night before bed. She had gotten Geno hooked on some kind of skin care routine, but Sid refused to participate. He washed his face whenever he took a shower. Good enough.

They went to the arena early, because it was a good idea to let Nikita run around for half an hour before expecting him to sit for any period of time, and because Anna said he liked to “see papa,” which meant going around to point at every picture of Geno in the building. He pointed at Sid’s pictures, too, and turned to look at Sid every time, wanting approval the way he always did, to be told he’d done a good job.

“Yeah, that’s me, bud,” Sid said, trying not to let on how pleased he was to be included in “see papa.” Anna hadn’t ever mentioned this routine to him, but as Nikita ran along ahead of them, he stopped in places where there was a picture of Sid but not of Geno, like he had done this before and knew exactly where to look. 

“See papa, huh,” Sid said to Anna, and she gave him a stern look that after a few moments creased into a smile.

Sid knew better than to go down to the ice for warmups; they would get mobbed. Instead they went up to his box in time to watch the team come out from the tunnel. Anna put Nikita’s headphones on and he stood at the railing and bounced excitedly until Geno emerged. “I see papa,” he announced, and there Geno was, doing his first lap around the ice. Sid had told him they would be up in the box, and Sid saw him searching, head up, until he spotted them—probably Anna’s blue coat—and lifted his stick in acknowledgement.

“There, Nikita, he sees us,” Anna said, and Nikita bounced harder.

Nikita was generally pretty well-behaved, and this wasn’t his first time at a game; he knew the routine. He held both of their hands through the anthem, listening solemnly as Jeff sang. When the game began, instead of taking the empty seat between them, he crawled into Sid’s lap.

“Oh, you think he’s more comfortable?” Anna teased. “You don’t like mama’s scratchy coat.”

“It’s itchy,” Nikita confirmed.

“My lap is bigger,” Sid said. He resettled Nikita into a better position and dropped a kiss to the top of his head, filled with the same rush of warmth he got every time Nikita came to him for comfort or affection. Geno had told him once that he felt the same way, which had made Sid feel less like an impostor and more like they were really doing this; they were all raising this small person together.

His identity had centered for so long around being a hockey player, but lately, in the last year or so, he had started to think of himself as a parent, maybe mostly as a parent. It seemed like a huge and important change, but it had happened so slowly and naturally that he couldn’t really remember what his life had been like before.

Nikita stayed in his lap for the whole first period, watching intently and pointing to Geno whenever he came out for a shift. Geno ended the period in the box, and Nikita said, “Ooh, that’s bad,” the same way Geno always did when he was watching hockey at home. 

“G’s gonna be worked up tonight,” Sid said to Anna in English, so that Nikita wouldn’t understand.

She smirked at him. “You want him, or me?”

“Maybe both of us,” Sid said, and Anna laughed and said, “Okay, Nikita, let’s go see papa in the locker room, shall we?” and then added something too quick for Sid to understand, that made Nikita laugh.

Sid pulled the bill of his cap low and followed closely behind Anna, Nikita in his arms, as they made their way toward the stairs down toward the service level. He was and had been friendly with other teammates’ wives; he had hung out with their children and even babysat from time to time. But he was always self-conscious about interacting with Anna in public, like anyone who saw them would be able to tell at once that their relationship went way beyond friendly.

Jon was coming out of the locker room as Sid and Anna approached, and he held the door for them. “Nobody’s naked right now. How’s the neck?”

“Concussed for sure,” Sid said, and Jon laughed.

Geno was at his stall, jersey off, wiping his face with a towel. He looked up and saw them and smiled so wide and bright, way more of a look than Sid thought anyone needed to see turned in his direction. But if anyone was looking, they would only think Geno was smiling at Nikita and Anna. It wasn’t anything for Sid to worry about.

Nikita lifted his head from Sid’s shoulder. His bedtime was approaching, and he was getting sleepy; they would go home after this, and Sid and Anna would finish watching the game in the den. But he spotted Geno and said, “Can we go see papa?” and there was no way Sid could deny either him or Geno a few sweaty hugs.

“You take him,” Anna said. She was shy about being in the locker room, which Sid mostly approved of, because the guys were gross. But he felt pretty exposed now as he toted Nikita across the room. Tanger was for sure looking at him. Sid wasn’t doing anything wrong, but it was—maybe it was a little weird. Nikita had his arms around Sid’s neck, happy and comfortable, and Geno didn’t look at all surprised to see the three of them together. Sid hadn’t just run into Anna and Nikita in the hallway. They had all come together.

“There’s my little rabbit,” Geno said. He was breathing hard and his hair was damp with sweat, but he smiled at Sid as he took Nikita in his arms, the same smile he gave Sid first thing in the morning, still half-asleep in bed.

People saw what they wanted to see. Sid had been officially living with Geno and Anna for more than a year, and most of Geno’s Pittsburgh crew of Russians knew, because it was impossible to hide Sid’s constant presence at the house from people who dropped by without notice. Geno’s parents kind of knew, which Sid tried not to think about. But the team didn’t know, not even the guys Sid was closest with, and he hadn’t thought any of them were suspicious. He and Geno drove separately to the rink, and Sid threw parties at his unused house from time to time, enough to pretend he was still living there. Nobody knew.

But Tanger was still looking at him. Sid raised his eyebrows and maintained eye contact until Tanger shrugged and looked away.

Nikita fell asleep in the car on the way home, which was the least surprising event of the day. Sid waited until he exited off the freeway, and then he said, “I think Tanger knows something’s up.”

Anna turned to look at him, nestled in the turned-up collar of her coat. “Up?”

“Like, he thinks something’s going on,” Sid said. “He was looking at us in the locker room tonight.”

“Hmm,” Anna said. She sat up and reached over to put her hand on Sid’s knee. “You want to tell him?”

“I don’t know,” Sid said. They had talked about it a lot: who to tell, how, when. Sid didn’t really want anyone to know, because how could he explain it? And it still felt so private and special. Like talking about it would cheapen it in some way, which he knew was stupid. But he didn’t know how to explain the feeling he got every time he came home and pulled into the garage, knowing his family was upstairs, waiting to see him.

“Maybe it’s good if your friends know,” Anna said. “You can’t keep secret forever—”

“I mean, we could try,” Sid said. 

Anna clucked her tongue at him. “Sid—”

“No, I know, I know,” Sid said. “Maybe I’ll talk to him.” He turned onto the road that led to home, winding and lined with trees. It had been snowing all day, not a ton but enough to make him slow down a little going around the curves. “It was nice tonight, uh. Going together. I felt like—” His throat was tight. He had to swallow before he could go on. “It was like we were a normal family. We could just be together, and not have to hide.”

Anna squeezed Sid’s leg. “Sometimes it’s not easy,” she said.

“No,” he said. “But it’s worth it to me.”

\+ + +

Tanger took the decision out of his hands a few days later. They went for lunch after practice, and Sid got the full baby update, and they talked about the team a little. Then Tanger leaned back in his chair and said, “Sid, I have to say something. It’s awkward, and maybe I’m wrong. I hope you’ll tell me I’m wrong. Geno is my friend, and if I’m right, he doesn’t deserve this. I don’t know Anna well, but I know you, and I’m surprised you would do this to Geno.”

Sid blinked at him a few times. “What?”

“I know these things happen,” Tanger said. “But someone is going to get hurt. They have a child together. That’s all I’ll say about it.”

“Wait a minute,” Sid said, finally realizing what was going on here. “You think I’m—you think Anna is _cheating_ on Geno? With me?”

“You spend a lot of time with her,” Tanger said. He shrugged. “Maybe I’m wrong. I thought I saw you kissing her at Phil’s cookout. But maybe I had a few too many drinks.”

Sid’s heart was racing. He could lie, and keep lying. It would get harder as Nikita got older and started school and learned English. What would they do when he told people about his two dads? It wasn’t fair to ask a child to maintain that level of secrecy. 

He could tell people, and control when they learned, and how. And maybe have friends over for dinner, and show them how happy he was. 

“Sid?” Tanger said, peering at him.

Sid exhaled. “I do spend a lot of time with Anna. But I spend a lot of time with Geno, too.”

Tanger’s eyebrows shot up. “What are you saying?”

“It’s—I live with them,” Sid said. He folded his hands in his lap to hide how they were trembling. “I’m dating both of them. It’s not really dating. It’s like we’re married.”

Tanger gave him the flattest, blankest stare Sid had maybe ever received from anyone. “Are you bullshitting?”

“ _No_ , I’m not bullshitting,” Sid said, exasperated. “Why would I make that up? What the fuck? It’s not a joke!”

“Yeah, okay,” Tanger said, lifting his hands in a placating gesture. “Sorry. I’m surprised. You’re really—with _Geno_?”

Sid shrugged and fiddled with the hem of his T-shirt so he wouldn’t have to meet Tanger’s eyes. “Yeah, I mean. I had never, uh. With a guy, but. It’s with both of them.”

“Wow,” Tanger said. “Okay. Wow.”

“I know it’s not, uh. What people normally do,” Sid said. He shot a cautious glance at Tanger. He looked surprised, and baffled, but not as weirded out as Sid had feared.

“How long has this been going on?” Tanger asked. “I’m sorry. I’m very surprised.”

“It started before Nikita was born,” Sid said. “So. It’s been a while. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It’s just—kind of hard to know how to talk about it.”

“I can’t say I don’t think it’s a little strange,” Tanger said. “But I’m glad you aren’t cheating.” He sighed. “You’re happy?”

“I’m really happy,” Sid said. “It’s been. Great. Just. They make me really happy.”

“Okay,” Tanger said. “Wow. Well, I’m glad for you, then. You should all come for dinner. Can I tell Cath?”

“Yeah,” Sid said. “But—don’t tell anyone else, okay? I’m gonna start telling some of the guys, I think, but I want to do it myself.”

“Sure,” Tanger said. He gave Sid a considering look. “Nobody else knows?”

Sid rolled his eyes. “Yes, you know before Flower, are you happy?”

“Very,” Tanger said smugly.

Sid felt a little shaky on the drive home. He’d never come out to anyone before, or admitted to his weird polyamorous relationship, and it had been nerve-wracking. It had gone well, though—better than he had expected.

Anna’s car was gone when he got home, but Geno was in the kitchen, drinking tea and doing something on his laptop. He tilted his head to one side without looking away from the screen, expecting his kiss, and Sid gave it to him, right on his cheek, and another one for good measure.

“Home alone?” he asked, fluffing Geno’s hair at the front to better cover his scalp. Geno was getting so vain about his bald spot, and Sid and Anna had decided to enable him and never say a word about it. 

“Anya and Katya take kids to the park,” Geno said. He frowned at his computer and typed a few words. “You have fun with Tanger?”

“I guess,” Sid said. He sat down in the chair beside Geno and pressed his forehead to Geno’s shoulder. “I, uh. I told him.”

That got Geno’s attention. He stopped typing and cupped Sid’s head with one hand. “It’s go okay?”

“I think so,” Sid said to Geno’s upper arm. “He thought I was like, sneaking around with Anna behind your back. So I think he was mostly glad I’m not trying to steal your wife.”

Geno snorted. “How you steal? I’m best.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard all this before,” Sid said. He sat up, and Geno’s hand slid down to his nape. “It went okay. And now he knows.”

“It’s good,” Geno said. He had been campaigning to tell the team for a while now, and Sid could tell he was barely reining in his self-congratulatory glee. “Maybe we tell Phil next.”

Sid laughed and shook his head. “You’re not even gonna give me an hour to recover, huh.”

“No,” Geno said. He took Sid’s hand and planted a big smacking kiss on the back of it. “Proud of you.”

“Maybe I’ll think about selling my house,” Sid said. “Not much point in keeping it if people know.”

“Then where we take Nikita swimming?” Geno asked. They went over to Sid’s house when the weather was nice to use the pool.

“We’ll get rid of your statues and put in a pool here,” Sid said. “I feel like you can probably afford it.”

“Always trying to talk shit about my statues,” Geno muttered to himself in Russian, like Sid couldn’t understand him. He kissed Sid’s hand again. 

Sid got a text message from Tanger that evening while he was chopping vegetables for dinner. He set down his knife to read the message. **Glad you told me. It’s weird but so is your face. Cath says congrats**

Sid’s smile welled up from somewhere deep inside him. If Tanger had already moved on to insulting him, everything was going to be okay for sure.

**Some of us have more important things to worry about than our hair** , he replied.

“Okay?” Anna asked, coming over from the fridge with the celery.

“Yeah,” Sid said, smiling at her. He gently tapped her shin with one foot, and she smiled and tapped him back. He wanted this to be the rest of his life: Anna in her baggy sweatpants, Nikita laughing from the playroom as Geno played floor hockey with him. “Everything’s great.”


End file.
